yale university creative writing mfa

Yale Creative Writing

• English Department

In fiction classes at Yale, we teach creative reading, as well as creative writing: we hone not only our own writing but also our ability to read the work of others with a delicate but crucial balance of discernment and generosity. We ask ourselves, what does this story want to be? How could it be made more vivid, more startling, and less like anything else we’ve read before? We’re looking not to “reform” stories, but to help our students produce the most engaging, evocative, and compelling work of which they are capable. 

You are here

Creative writing & journalism courses, creative writing and journalism courses for yale college students, fall 2024 courses.

Students may take more than one creative writing class this term, but not two in the same genre: Drama, Fiction, Journalism/Nonfiction, Poetry.

A current (and continually updated) listing of all English course offerings is available on  Yale Course Search  (YCS).

Some courses will require an application in advance; a list will be posted here by Friday,  March 15 . Those applications will be due by noon on  April 5 . Applicants will be notified of decisions by  April 12 . When registration period begins, admitted students must add the course to their Registration Worksheet and request Instructor Permission in  YCS . Instructors will approve admitted student requests in YCS; approved students must then return to YCS to Confirm Changes and complete registration in the course. Admitted students who do not complete registration in the course by  May 1  may have their places filled from the waiting list. Applicants who submit after the April 1 deadline may be accepted to the waiting list.

Online Application Tip:  log into your Microsoft account using your Yale email address and password.  Please note that if you are trying to access the form while logged into any email on your browser that is not your Yale one, the page will not load.

Where no application is required in advance, students may enroll during registration period by submitting an instructor permission request through YCS or by enrolling on a first-come-first-served basis, depending on the course.  Please check the course sites on  Canvas   for further information ; these can be accessed through YCS by clicking on the Syllabus link in the course window.

Proposals for independent study courses are due at noon on  April 2 . Students will be notified by 5:00 pm on  April 10  whether the proposal has been approved or revisions are required.

Introductory Creative Writing Courses

ENGL 123 Introduction to Creative Writing. Richard Deming, Marie-Helene Bertino, Emily Skillings, and R. Clifton Spargo.

ENGL 404-01 The Craft of Fiction. Michael Cunningham. Information Session April 5, 12:00 or 2:00 in LC 317 IF YOU MISSED THE INFORMATION SESSION, please fill out this questionnaire and upload it here by noon on April 10  (use your Yale email address and password to login).

ENGL 404-02 The Craft of Fiction. Adam Sexton.

ENGL 447 Shakespeare and the Craft of Writing Poetry. Danielle Chapman. This hybrid course is an exciting blend of creative and critical writing. Students decide before midterm whether they want to take the course as a Renaissance Literature or Creative Writing Credit, and this determines whether their final project is a creative portfolio or critical paper.

Professional Writing/Production Courses

These courses do not count toward the Creative Writing Concentration.

ENGL 412 Literary Production: Poetry. Maggie Millner.

ENGL 413 Literary Production: Prose. Jack Hanson.

Intermediate Creative Writing Courses

ENGL 407 Fiction Writing. Marie-Helene Bertino. ENGL 407 Application

ENGL 411 American Horror Stories. Brian Price.

ENGL 419 Writing about Contemporary Figurative Art. Margaret Spillane.

ENGL 421 Nonfiction Writing: Writing about Architecture. Christopher Hawthorne.

ENGL 425 Writing the Television Drama. Aaron Tracy.

JDST 345/ENGL 431 Ghostwriting. Joshua Cohen.

LITR 348/ENGL 456HUMS 427/JDST 316 The Practice of Literary Translation. Robyn Creswell.

THST 215/ENGL 434 Writing Dance. Brian Seibert.

Advanced Creative Writing and Journalism Courses

ENGL 453/THST 320 Playwriting. Donald Margulies. ENGL 453 Application

ENGL 460 Advanced Poetry Writing. Cynthia Zarin. ENGL 460 Application

ENGL 461 The Art and Craft of Television Drama. Derek Green. ENGL 461 Application

ENGL 463 Writing Outsiderness and Interiority. Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah.  ENGL 463 Application

ENGL 465 Advanced Fiction Writing. Michael Cunningham. ENGL 465-01 Application

ENGL 465 Advanced Fiction Writing. Caryl Phillips. ENGL 465-02 Application

ENGL 467 Journalism. Steven Brill. ENGL 467 Application

UPDATE: TO ALL APPLICANTS TO ENGLISH 467A (FALL, 2024)

FROM: STEVEN BRILL 

I have now notified all those who applied for the English 467 seminar who have been admitted, meaning that if you have not received such a notice and confirmed your intention to join the program, I was unable to admit you this year. As always, this is the only unpleasant aspect of my involvement in the Yale Journalism Initiative. I’m confident that everyone who applied would have done well. But I had to made decisions on the right mix of participants based on a variety of factors. With that in mind, I want to stress that one of those criteria was that in many cases I chose rising seniors and juniors over rising sophomores because sophomores will have additional opportunities to participate. So, while some rising sophomores were included in the mix, most were not – and  if you are a rising sophomore I urge you to apply again next time around.

ENGL 469 Advanced Nonfiction Writing. Anne Fadiman. ENGL 469 Application

ENGL 474 The Genre of the Sentence. Verly Klinkenborg. ENGL 474 Application

ENGL 484 Writing Across Literary Genres. Cynthia Zarin. ENGL 484 Application

MB&B 459/ENGL 459/EVST 215 Writing about Science, Medicine, and the Environment. Carl Zimmer. See the Syllabus via YCS for application information.

Independent Study

ENGL 487 Tutorial in Writing. Staff.  ENGL 487 Application

ENGL 489 The Creative Writing Concentration Senior Project. Staff.  ENGL 489 Application

Questions? Contact Erica Sayers or Jane Bordiere.

It looks like you're trying to zoom in on this page. For best results: use the most recent version of your browser, disable your browser's 'zoom text only' setting, and use your browser's default font size settings.

To zoom in, use [Ctrl] + [+] in Windows, and [Cmd] + [+] on a Mac. To zoom out, use the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl] + [-] in Windows and [Cmd] + [-] on a Mac.

Yale University

Additional Navigation

Graduate & professional study.

Yale offers advanced degrees through its Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and 13 professional schools. Browse the organizations below for information on programs of study, academic requirements, and faculty research.

Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

Yale’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences offers programs leading to M.A., M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in 73 departments and programs.

School of Architecture

The Yale School of Architecture’s mandate is for each student to understand architecture as a creative, productive, innovative, and responsible practice.

School of Art

The Yale School of Art has a long and distinguished history of training artists of the highest caliber.

Divinity School

Yale Divinity School educates the scholars, ministers, and spiritual leaders of the future.

David Geffen School of Drama

The David Geffen School of Drama graduates have raised the standards of professional practice around the world in every theatrical discipline, creating bold art that engages the mind and delights the senses.

School of Engineering & Applied Science

The Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science is at the cutting edge of research to develop technologies that address global societal problems.

School of the Environment

The School of the Environment is dedicated to sustaining and restoring the long-term health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people.

Jackson School of Global Affairs

The Jackson School of Global Affairs trains and equips a new generation of leaders to devise thoughtful, evidence-based solutions for challenging global problems.

Yale Law School hones the world’s finest legal minds in an environment that features world-renowned faculty, small classes, and countless opportunities for clinical training and public service.

School of Management

School of Management students, faculty, and alumni are committed to understanding the complex forces transforming global markets and building organizations that contribute lasting value to society.

School of Medicine

Yale School of Medicine graduates go on to become leaders in academic medicine and health care, and innovators in clinical practice, biotechnology, and public policy.

School of Music

The Yale School of Music is an international leader in educating the creative musicians and cultural leaders of tomorrow.

School of Nursing

The Yale School of Nursing community is deeply committed to the idea that access to high quality patient‐centered health care is a social right, not a privilege.

School of Public Health

The School of Public Health supports research and innovative programs that protect and improve the health of people around the globe.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is composed of the departments and academic programs that provide instruction in Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Centers & Institutes

A number of our centers and institutes offer additional opportunities for graduate and professional study.

The Best 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs in 2023

April 7, 2023

Whether you studied at a top creative writing university , or are a high school dropout who will one day become a bestselling author , you may be considering an MFA in Creative Writing. But is a writing MFA genuinely worth the time and potential costs? How do you know which program will best nurture your writing? This article walks you through the considerations for an MFA program, as well as the best Creative Writing MFA programs in the United States.

First of all, what is an MFA?

A Master of Fine Arts (MFA) is a graduate degree that usually takes from two to three years to complete. Applications require a sample portfolio for entry, usually of 10-20 pages of your best writing.

What actually goes on in a creative writing MFA beyond inspiring award-winning books and internet memes ? You enroll in workshops where you get feedback on your creative writing from your peers and a faculty member. You enroll in seminars where you get a foundation of theory and techniques. Then you finish the degree with a thesis project.

Reasons to Get an MFA in Creative Writing

You don’t need an MFA to be a writer. Just look at Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison or bestselling novelist Emily St. John Mandel.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of reasons you might still want to get a creative writing MFA. The first is, unfortunately, prestige. An MFA from a top program can help you stand out in a notoriously competitive industry to be published.

The second reason: time. Many MFA programs give you protected writing time, deadlines, and maybe even a (dainty) salary.

Third, an MFA in Creative Writing is a terminal degree. This means that this degree allows you to teach writing at the university level, especially after you publish a book.

But above all, the biggest reason to pursue an MFA is the community it brings you. You get to meet other writers, and share feedback, advice, and moral support, in relationships that can last for decades.

Types of Creative Writing MFA Programs

Here are the different types of programs to consider, depending on your needs:

Fully-Funded Full-Time Programs

These programs offer full-tuition scholarships and sweeten the deal by actually paying you to attend them.

• Pros: You’re paid to write (and teach).
• Cons: Uprooting your entire life to move somewhere possibly very cold.

Full-Time MFA Programs

These programs include attending in-person classes and paying tuition (though many offer need-based and merit scholarships).

• Pros: Lots of top-notch programs non-funded programs have more assets to attract world-class faculty and guests.
• Cons: It’s an investment that might not pay itself back.

Low-Residency MFA Programs

Low-residency programs usually meet biannually for short sessions. They also offer one-on-one support throughout the year. These MFAs are more independent, preparing you for what the writing life is actually like.

• Pros: No major life changes required. Cons: Less time dedicated to writing and less time to build relationships.

Online MFA Programs

Held 100% online. These programs have high acceptance rates and no residency requirement. That means zero travel or moving expenses.

• Pros: No major life changes required.
• Cons: These MFAs have less name-recognition

The Top 15 Creative Writing MFA Programs Ranked by Category

The following programs are selected for their balance of high funding, impressive return on investment, stellar faculty, major journal publications , and impressive alums.

Fully Funded MFA Programs

1) johns hopkins university, mfa in fiction/poetry (baltimore, md).

This is a two-year program, with $33,000 teaching fellowships per year. This MFA offers the most generous funding package. Not to mention, it offers that sweet, sweet health insurance, mind-boggling faculty, and a guaranteed lecture position after graduation (nice). No nonfiction MFA (boo).

• Incoming class size: 8 students
• Admissions rate: 11.1%
• Alumni: Chimamanda Adiche, Jeffrey Blitz, Wes Craven, Louise Erdrich, Porochista Khakpour, Phillis Levin, ZZ Packer, Tom Sleigh, Elizabeth Spires, Rosanna Warren

2) University of Texas, James Michener Center (Austin, TX)

A fully-funded 3-year program with a generous stipend of $29,500. The program offers fiction, poetry, playwriting and screenwriting. The Michener Center is also unique because you study a primary genre and a secondary genre, and also get $3,000 for the summer.

• Incoming class size : 12 students
• Acceptance rate: a bone-chilling less-than-1% in fiction; 2-3% in other genres
•   Alumni: Fiona McFarlane, Brian McGreevy, Karan Mahajan, Alix Ohlin, Kevin Powers, Lara Prescott, Roger Reeves, Maria Reva, Domenica Ruta, Sam Sax, Joseph Skibell, Dominic Smith

3) University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is a 2-year program on a residency model for fiction and poetry. This means there are low requirements, and lots of time to write groundbreaking novels or play pool at the local bar. Most students are funded, with fellowships worth up to $21,000. The Translation MFA, co-founded by Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, is also two years, but with more intensive coursework. The Nonfiction Writing Program is a prestigious three-year MFA program and is also intensive.

• Incoming class size: 25 each for poetry and fiction; 10-12 for nonfiction and translation.
• Acceptance rate: 3.7%
• Fantastic Alumni: Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, Sandra Cisneros, Joy Harjo, Garth Greenwell, Kiley Reid, Brandon Taylor, Eula Biss, Yiyun Li, Jennifer Croft

4) University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)

Anne Carson famously lives in Ann Arbor, as do the MFA students U-Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. This is a big university town, which is less damaging to your social life. Plus, there’s lots to do when you have a $23,000 stipend, summer funding, and health care.

This is a 2-3-year program, with an impressive reputation. They also have a demonstrated commitment to “ push back against the darkness of intolerance and injustice ” and have outreach programs in the community.

• Incoming class size: 18
• Acceptance rate: 4% (which maybe seems high after less-than-1%)
• Alumni: Brit Bennett, Vievee Francis, Airea D. Matthews, Celeste Ng, Chigozie Obioma, Jia Tolentino, Jesmyn Ward

5) Brown University (Providence, RI)

Brown offers an edgy, well-funded program in a place that doesn’t dip into arctic temperatures. Students are all fully-funded for 2-3 years with $29,926 in 2021-22. Students also get summer funding and—you guessed it—that sweet, sweet health insurance.

In the Brown Literary Arts MFA, students take only one workshop and one elective per semester. It’s also the only program in the country to feature a Digital/Cross Disciplinary Track.

• Incoming class size: 12-13
• Acceptance rate: “highly selective”
• Alumni: Edwidge Danticat, Jaimy Gordon, Gayl Jones, Ben Lerner, Joanna Scott, Kevin Young, Ottessa Moshfegh

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs (Continued) 

6) university of arizona (tucson, az).

This 3-year program has many attractive qualities. It’s in “ the lushest desert in the world ”, and was recently ranked #4 in creative writing programs, and #2 in Nonfiction. You can take classes in multiple genres, and in fact, are encouraged to do so. Plus, Arizona dry heat is good for arthritis.

This notoriously supportive program pays $20,000 a year, and offers the potential to volunteer at multiple literary organizations. You can also do supported research at the US-Mexico Border.

• Incoming class size: 9
• Acceptance rate: 4.85% (a refreshingly specific number after Brown’s evasiveness)
• Alumni: Francisco Cantú, Jos Charles, Tony Hoagland, Nancy Mairs, Richard Russo, Richard Siken, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, David Foster Wallace

7) Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ):

Arizona State is also a three-year funded program in arthritis-friendly dry heat. It offers small class sizes, individual mentorships, and one of the most impressive faculty rosters in the game. Everyone gets a $19,000 stipend, with other opportunities for financial support.

• Incoming class size: 8-10
• Acceptance rate: 3% (sigh)
• Alumni: Tayari Jones, Venita Blackburn, Dorothy Chan, Adrienne Celt, Dana Diehl, Matthew Gavin Frank, Caitlin Horrocks, Allegra Hyde, Hugh Martin, Bonnie Nadzam

FULL-RESIDENCY MFAS (UNFUNDED)

8) new york university (new york, ny).

This two-year program is in New York City, meaning it comes with close access to literary opportunities and hot dogs. NYU is private, and has one of the most accomplished faculty lists anywhere. Students have large cohorts (more potential friends!) and have a penchant for winning top literary prizes.

• Incoming class size: 40-60
• Acceptance rate: 6%
• Alumni: Nick Flynn, Nell Freudenberger, Aracelis Girmay, Mitchell S. Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, John Keene, Raven Leilani, Robin Coste Lewis, Ada Limón, Ocean Vuong

9) Columbia University (New York, NY)

Another 2-3 year private MFA program with drool-worthy permanent and visiting faculty. Columbia offers courses in fiction, poetry, translation, and nonfiction. Beyond the Ivy League education, Columbia offers close access to agents, and its students have a high record of bestsellers.

• Incoming class size: 110
• Acceptance rate: 21%
• Alumni: Alexandra Kleeman, Rachel Kushner, Claudia Rankine, Rick Moody, Sigrid Nunez, Tracy K. Smith, Emma Cline, Adam Wilson, Marie Howe, Mary Jo Bang

10) Sarah Lawrence (Bronxville, NY)

Sarah Lawrence offers speculative fiction beyond the average fiction, poetry, and nonfiction course offerings. With intimate class sizes, this program is unique because it offers biweekly one-on-one conferences with its stunning faculty. It also has a notoriously supportive atmosphere.

• Incoming class size: 30-40
• Acceptance rate: N/A
• Alumni: Cynthia Cruz, Melissa Febos, T Kira Madden, Alex Dimitrov, Moncho Alvarado

LOW RESIDENCY

11 bennington college (bennington, vt).

This two-year program boasts truly stellar faculty, and meets twice a year for ten days in January and June. It’s like a biannual vacation in beautiful Vermont, plus mentorship by a famous writer, and then you get a degree. The tuition is $23,468 per year, with scholarships available.

• Acceptance rate: 53%
• Incoming class: 40
• Alumni: Larissa Pham, Andrew Reiner, Lisa Johnson Mitchell, and others

12)  Institute for American Indian Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

This two-year program emphasizes Native American and First Nations writing. With truly amazing faculty and visiting writers, they offer a wide range of genres offered, in screenwriting, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Students attend two eight-day residencies each year, in January and July, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At $12,000 a year, it boasts being “ one of the most affordable MFA programs in the country .”

• Incoming class size : 22
• Acceptance rate: 100%
• Alumni: Tommy Orange, Dara Yen Elerath, Kathryn Wilder

13) Vermont College of Fine Arts

One of few MFAs where you can study the art of the picture book, middle grade and young adult literature, graphic literature, nonfiction, fiction, and poetry for young people. Students meet twice a year for nine days, in January and July, in Vermont. You can also do many travel residencies in exciting (and warm) places like Cozumel.

VCFA boasts amazing faculty and visiting writers, with individualized study options and plenty of one-on-one time. Tuition is $48,604.

• Incoming class size: 18-25
• Acceptance rate: 63%
• Alumnx: Lauren Markham, Mary-Kim Arnold, Cassie Beasley, Kate Beasley, Julie Berry, Bridget Birdsall, Gwenda Bond, Pablo Cartaya

ONLINE MFAS

14) university of texas at el paso (el paso, tx).

The world’s first bilingual and online MFA program in the world. UTEP is considered the best online MFA program, and features award-winning faculty from across the globe. Intensive workshops allow submitting in Spanish and English, and genres include poetry and fiction. This three-year program costs $14,766 a year, with rolling admissions.

• Alumni: Watch alumni testimonies here

15) Bay Path University (Long Meadow, MA)

This 2-year online program is dedicated entirely to nonfiction. A supportive, diverse community, Bay Path offers small class sizes, close mentorship, and a potential field trip in Ireland.

There are many tracks, including publishing, Narrative Medicine, and teaching. Core courses include memoir, narrative journalism, and the personal essay. The price is $785/credit, for 39 credits, with scholarships available.

• Incoming class size: 20
• Acceptance rate: an encouraging 78%
• Alumni: Read alumni testimonies here

Prepare for your MFA in advance:

• Best English Programs
• Best Creative Writing Schools
• Writing Summer Programs

Best MFA Creative Writing Programs – References:

• https://www.pw.org/mfa
• The Creative Writing MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students , by Tom Kealey (A&C Black 2005)
• Graduate School Admissions

Julia Conrad

With a Bachelor of Arts in English and Italian from Wesleyan University as well as MFAs in both Nonfiction Writing and Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, Julia is an experienced writer, editor, educator, and a former Fulbright Fellow. Julia’s work has been featured in  The Millions ,  Asymptote , and  The Massachusetts Review , among other publications. To read more of her work, visit  www.juliaconrad.net

• 2-Year Colleges
• Application Strategies
• Best Colleges by Major
• Best Colleges by State
• Big Picture
• Career & Personality Assessment
• College Essay
• College Search/Knowledge
• College Success
• Costs & Financial Aid
• Dental School Admissions
• Extracurricular Activities
• High School Success
• High Schools
• Law School Admissions
• Medical School Admissions
• Navigating the Admissions Process
• Online Learning
• Private High School Spotlight
• Summer Program Spotlight
• Summer Programs
• Test Prep Provider Spotlight

“Innovative and invaluable…use this book as your college lifeline.”

— Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Nationally Recognized College Expert

College Planning in Your Inbox

Join our information-packed monthly newsletter.

• Best Colleges
• Application Advice

• Hidden Gem Colleges

The 10 Best Creative Writing MFA Programs in the US

The talent is there. 

But the next generation of great American writers needs a collegial place to hone their craft. 

They need a place to explore the writer’s role in a wider community. 

They really need guidance about how and when to publish. 

All these things can be found in a solid Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree program. This degree offers access to mentors, to colleagues, and to a future in the writing world. 

A good MFA program gives new writers a precious few years to focus completely on their work, an ideal space away from the noise and pressure of the fast-paced modern world. 

We’ve found ten of the best ones, all of which provide the support, the creative stimulation, and the tranquility necessary to foster a mature writer.

We looked at graduate departments from all regions, public and private, all sizes, searching for the ten most inspiring Creative Writing MFA programs. 

Each of these ten institutions has assembled stellar faculties, developed student-focused paths of study, and provide robust support for writers accepted into their degree programs. 

To be considered for inclusion in this list, these MFA programs all must be fully-funded degrees, as recognized by Read The Workshop .

Creative Writing education has broadened and expanded over recent years, and no single method or plan fits for all students. 

Today, MFA programs across the country give budding short story writers and poets a variety of options for study. For future novelists, screenwriters – even viral bloggers – the search for the perfect setting for their next phase of development starts with these outstanding institutions, all of which have developed thoughtful and particular approaches to study.

So where will the next Salinger scribble his stories on the steps of the student center, or the next Angelou reading her poems in the local bookstore’s student-run poetry night? At one of these ten programs.

Here are 10 of the best creative writing MFA programs in the US.

University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)

Starting off the list is one of the oldest and most venerated Creative Writing programs in the country, the MFA at the University of Oregon. 

Longtime mentor, teacher, and award-winning poet Garrett Hongo directs the program, modeling its studio-based approach to one-on-one instruction in the English college system. 

Oregon’s MFA embraces its reputation for rigor. Besides attending workshops and tutorials, students take classes in more formal poetics and literature.  

A classic college town, Eugene provides an ideal backdrop for the writers’ community within Oregon’s MFA students and faculty.  

Tsunami Books , a local bookseller with national caché, hosts student-run readings featuring writers from the program. 

Graduates garner an impressive range of critical acclaim; Yale Younger Poet winner Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Cave Canem Prize winner and Guggenheim fellow Major Jackson, and PEN-Hemingway Award winner Chang-Rae Lee are noteworthy alumni. 

With its appealing setting and impressive reputation, Oregon’s MFA program attracts top writers as visiting faculty, including recent guests Elizabeth McCracken, David Mura, and Li-young Lee.

The individual approach defines the Oregon MFA experience; a key feature of the program’s first year is the customized reading list each MFA student creates with their faculty guide. 

Weekly meetings focus not only on the student’s writing, but also on the extended discovery of voice through directed reading. 

Accepting only ten new students a year—five in poetry and five in fiction— the University of Oregon’s MFA ensures a close-knit community with plenty of individual coaching and guidance.

Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)

Cornell University’s MFA program takes the long view on life as a writer, incorporating practical editorial training and teaching experience into its two-year program.

Incoming MFA students choose their own faculty committee of at least two faculty members, providing consistent advice as they move through a mixture of workshop and literature classes. 

Students in the program’s first year benefit from editorial training as readers and editors for Epoch , the program’s prestigious literary journal.

Teaching experience grounds the Cornell program. MFA students design and teach writing-centered undergraduate seminars on a variety of topics, and they remain in Ithaca during the summer to teach in programs for undergraduates. 

Cornell even allows MFA graduates to stay on as lecturers at Cornell for a period of time while they are on the job search. Cornell also offers a joint MFA/Ph.D. program through the Creative Writing and English departments.

Endowments fund several acclaimed reading series, drawing internationally known authors to campus for workshops and work sessions with MFA students. 

Recent visiting readers include Salman Rushdie, Sandra Cisneros, Billy Collins, Margaret Atwood, Ada Limón, and others. 

Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)

Arizona State’s MFA in Creative Writing spans three years, giving students ample time to practice their craft, develop a voice, and begin to find a place in the post-graduation literary world. 

Coursework balances writing and literature classes equally, with courses in craft and one-on-one mentoring alongside courses in literature, theory, or even electives in topics like fine press printing, bookmaking, or publishing. 

While students follow a path in either poetry or fiction, they are encouraged to take courses across the genres.

Teaching is also a focus in Arizona State’s MFA program, with funding coming from teaching assistantships in the school’s English department. Other exciting teaching opportunities include teaching abroad in locations around the world, funded through grants and internships.

The Virginia C. Piper Center for Creative Writing, affiliated with the program, offers Arizona State MFA students professional development in formal and informal ways. 

The Distinguished Writers Series and Desert Nights, Rising Stars Conference bring world-class writers to campus, allowing students to interact with some of the greatest in the profession. Acclaimed writer and poet Alberto Ríos directs the Piper Center.

Arizona State transitions students to the world after graduation through internships with publishers like Four Way Books. 

Its commitment to the student experience and its history of producing acclaimed writers—recent examples include Tayari Jones (Oprah’s Book Club, 2018; Women’s Prize for Fiction, 2019), Venita Blackburn ( Prairie Schooner Book Prize, 2018), and Hugh Martin ( Iowa Review Jeff Sharlet Award for Veterans)—make Arizona State University’s MFA a consistent leader among degree programs.

University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)

The University of Texas at Austin’s MFA program, the Michener Center for Writers, maintains one of the most vibrant, exciting, active literary faculties of any MFA program.

Denis Johnson D.A. Powell, Geoff Dyer, Natasha Trethewey, Margot Livesey, Ben Fountain: the list of recent guest faculty boasts some of the biggest names in current literature.

This three-year program fully funds candidates without teaching fellowships or assistantships; the goal is for students to focus entirely on their writing. 

More genre tracks at the Michener Center mean students can choose two focus areas, a primary and secondary, from Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting, and Playwriting.

The Michener Center for Writers plays a prominent role in contemporary writing of all kinds. 

The hip, student-edited Bat City Review accepts work of all genres, visual art, cross genres, collaborative, and experimental pieces.  

Recent events for illustrious alumni include New Yorker publications, an Oprah Book Club selection, a screenwriting prize, and a 2021 Pulitzer (for visiting faculty member Mitchell Jackson). 

In this program, students are right in the middle of all the action of contemporary American literature.

Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)

The MFA in Creative Writing at Washington University in St. Louis is a program on the move: applicants have almost doubled here in the last five years. 

Maybe this sudden growth of interest comes from recent rising star alumni on the literary scene, like Paul Tran, Miranda Popkey, and National Book Award winner Justin Phillip Reed.

Or maybe it’s the high profile Washington University’s MFA program commands, with its rotating faculty post through the Hurst Visiting Professor program and its active distinguished reader series. 

Superstar figures like Alison Bechdel and George Saunders have recently held visiting professorships, maintaining an energetic atmosphere program-wide.

Washington University’s MFA program sustains a reputation for the quality of the mentorship experience. 

With only five new students in each genre annually, MFA candidates form close cohorts among their peers and enjoy attentive support and mentorship from an engaged and vigorous faculty. 

Three genre tracks are available to students: fiction, poetry, and the increasingly relevant and popular creative nonfiction.

Another attractive feature of this program: first-year students are fully funded, but not expected to take on a teaching role until their second year. 

A generous stipend, coupled with St. Louis’s low cost of living, gives MFA candidates at Washington University the space to develop in a low-stress but stimulating creative environment.

Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)

It’s one of the first and biggest choices students face when choosing an MFA program: two-year or three-year? 

Indiana University makes a compelling case for its three-year program, in which the third year of support allows students an extended period of time to focus on the thesis, usually a novel or book-length collection.

One of the older programs on the list, Indiana’s MFA dates back to 1948. 

Its past instructors and alumni read like the index to an American Literature textbook. 

How many places can you take classes in the same place Robert Frost once taught, not to mention the program that granted its first creative writing Master’s degree to David Wagoner? Even today, the program’s integrity and reputation draw faculty like Ross Gay and Kevin Young.

Indiana’s Creative Writing program houses two more literary institutions, the Indiana Review, and the Indiana University Writers’ Conference. 

Students make up the editorial staff of this lauded literary magazine, in some cases for course credit or a stipend. An MFA candidate serves each year as assistant director of the much-celebrated and highly attended conference . 

These two facets of Indiana’s program give graduate students access to visiting writers, professional experience, and a taste of the writing life beyond academia.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI)

The University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program cultivates its students with a combination of workshop-driven course work and vigorous programming on and off-campus. Inventive new voices in fiction and poetry consistently emerge from this two-year program.

The campus hosts multiple readings, events, and contests, anchored by the Zell Visiting Writers Series. The Hopgood Awards offer annual prize money to Michigan creative writing students . 

The department cultivates relationships with organizations and events around Detroit, so whether it’s introducing writers at Literati bookstore or organizing writing retreats in conjunction with local arts organizations, MFA candidates find opportunities to cultivate a community role and public persona as a writer.

What happens after graduation tells the big story of this program. Michigan produces heavy hitters in the literary world, like Celeste Ng, Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Kostova, Nate Marshall, Paisley Rekdal, and Laura Kasischke. 

Their alumni place their works with venerable houses like Penguin and Harper Collins, longtime literary favorites Graywolf and Copper Canyon, and the new vanguard like McSweeney’s, Fence, and Ugly Duckling Presse.

University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)

Structure combined with personal attention and mentorship characterizes the University of Minnesota’s Creative Writing MFA, starting with its unique program requirements. 

In addition to course work and a final thesis, Minnesota’s MFA candidates assemble a book list of personally significant works on literary craft, compose a long-form essay on their writing process, and defend their thesis works with reading in front of an audience.

Literary journal Great River Review and events like the First Book reading series and Mill City Reading series do their part to expand the student experience beyond the focus on the internal. 

The Edelstein-Keller Visiting Writer Series draws exceptional, culturally relevant writers like Chuck Klosterman and Claudia Rankine for readings and student conversations. 

Writer and retired University of Minnesota instructor Charles Baxter established the program’s Hunger Relief benefit , aiding Minnesota’s Second Harvest Heartland organization. 

Emblematic of the program’s vision of the writer in service to humanity, this annual contest and reading bring together distinguished writers, students, faculty, and community members in favor of a greater goal.

Brown University (Providence, RI)

One of the top institutions on any list, Brown University features an elegantly-constructed Literary Arts Program, with students choosing one workshop and one elective per semester. 

The electives can be taken from any department at Brown; especially popular choices include Studio Art and other coursework through the affiliated Rhode Island School of Design. The final semester consists of thesis construction under the supervision of the candidate’s faculty advisor.

Brown is the only MFA program to feature, in addition to poetry and fiction tracks, the Digital/Cross Disciplinary track . 

This track attracts multidisciplinary writers who need the support offered by Brown’s collaboration among music, visual art, computer science, theater and performance studies, and other departments. 

The interaction with the Rhode Island School of Design also allows those artists interested in new forms of media to explore and develop their practice, inventing new forms of art and communication.

Brown’s Literary Arts Program focuses on creating an atmosphere where students can refine their artistic visions, supported by like-minded faculty who provide the time and materials necessary to innovate. 

Not only has the program produced trailblazing writers like Percival Everett and Otessa Moshfegh, but works composed by alumni incorporating dance, music, media, and theater have been performed around the world, from the stage at Kennedy Center to National Public Radio.

University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)

When most people hear “MFA in Creative Writing,” it’s the Iowa Writers’ Workshop they imagine. 

The informal name of the University of Iowa’s Program in Creative Writing, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop was the first to offer an MFA, back in 1936. 

One of the first diplomas went to renowned writer Wallace Stegner, who later founded the MFA program at Stanford.

 It’s hard to argue with seventeen Pulitzer Prize winners and six U.S. Poets Laureate. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is the root system of the MFA tree.

The two-year program balances writing courses with coursework in other graduate departments at the university. In addition to the book-length thesis, a written exam is part of the student’s last semester.

Because the program represents the quintessential idea of a writing program, it attracts its faculty positions, reading series, events, and workshops the brightest lights of the literary world. 

The program’s flagship literary magazine, the Iowa Review , is a lofty goal for writers at all stages of their career. 

At the Writers’ Workshop, tracks include not only fiction, poetry, playwriting, and nonfiction, but also Spanish creative writing and literary translation. Their reading series in association with Prairie Lights bookstore streams online and is heard around the world.

Iowa’s program came into being in answer to the central question posed to each one of these schools: can writing be taught? 

The answer for a group of intrepid, creative souls in 1936 was, actually, “maybe not.” 

But they believed it could be cultivated; each one of these institutions proves it can be, in many ways, for those willing to commit the time and imagination.

Related Posts

Dental hygiene has become a popular profession for students wanting to enter the health profession.…

Ranked as the #1 healthcare job, physician assistants enjoy an exciting and fulfilling career. PAs…

In 2019 there were over 130,000 phlebotomists nationwide. These medical professionals are responsible for drawing…

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

The Best Universities in Europe

The 10 Best Universities in Japan

The Best Master’s in Public Administration Programs in the US

The Best Master’s in Education Programs

10 Colleges With Amazing Study Abroad Programs

The Best Early Childhood Education Colleges

POPULAR POSTS

The 10 Best Marine Biology Colleges in the US

Here Are the 10 Best Optometry Schools in the US

Here Are the 10 Best Dental Schools in the US

Popular category.

• Acceptance Rates 253
• Hidden Gem Colleges 81
• Medical Schools 76
• Ivy League Schools 62
• Law Schools 49
• Performing Arts 45
• Art Schools 42
• Health Sciences 40
• Summer Programs 39
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

David Geffen School of Drama 2023 – 2024

Directing (m.f.a. and certificate).

Liz Diamond, Chair

Yura Kondonsky, Associate Chair

The entire aim of the David Geffen School of Drama Directing program is the education of the director as creative artist and collaborative leader. Our goal is to train directors whose future work will advance human understanding and compassion through the infinitely expressive interplay of image, action, and word unique to our art form. The Directing program strives to be a space for students to engage together in lively exploration and experimentation; rigorous, generous critique; and shared discovery. Our graduates go on to play significant roles in communities around the world as directors of theater, opera, television, and film; as founders of opera and theater companies; as artistic directors of theaters and community arts organizations; and as arts educators.

Each year, three directors are admitted to the program on the basis of demonstrated artistic ability and capacity for collaborative leadership. They bring to the School a wide range of sensibilities, but share some crucial qualities. They are generators of ideas and projects. They have lively imaginations, an appetite for hard questions, and a robust curiosity about, and respect for, the world beyond their own cultural borders. They are not afraid to take risks, and they take responsibility for the philosophical and political implications of their work. Above all, they have a deep respect for the colleagues with whom they work and are eager, in coming to Yale, to contribute to a mutually supportive community of fellow learners.

In course and production work, emphasis is placed on nurturing directorial imagination: developing every student’s ability to articulate and transform artistic vision into theatrical image and embodied action. Equal emphasis is placed on strengthening the director’s capacity for inclusive leadership. Our core courses are (a) the Directing Practicum, which engages the student in a practical exploration of theatrical composition—the relationship of form to content—through studio exercises and projects; (b) the Directing seminars, which teach practical skills in text analysis, directorial interpretation, and production preparation, using a broad range of dramatic writing, theory, and production histories as course texts; and (c) the Labs, where directors, playwrights, and actors develop their ability to collaborate creatively through exercises, scene work, and critical feedback. The Directing program also hosts an annual opera practicum with singers from the School of Music, and, through Yale College and the School of Art, provides opportunities for students to gain an introduction to filmmaking. In addition, we welcome visiting theater artists to conduct workshops and engage in discussion throughout the year.

Because the art and craft of directing require an understanding of all the expressive modes that together embody theater, the Directing curriculum integrates core courses in acting and design into its programming. Directors also take courses in dramaturgy, playwriting, and theater management. Additional courses in these and other disciplines may be taken as electives.

Production work, involving intensive collaboration with fellow students in all School programs, is central to our training. Throughout their time at the School, directors practice their craft in diverse forums, ranging from scene work in classrooms to full productions in various performance spaces. Through these opportunities, directors put theory into practice, developing their ability to respond to a range of artistic, logistical, and leadership challenges. In the first year of training, directors participate in collaboratively created projects in DRAM 50a, The Theatrical Event, and direct workshop stagings of new plays by first-year playwrights in the New Play Lab. In the second year, directors direct a Shakespeare Repertory Project and a new play by a peer playwright. In the culminating year of training, directors direct a full production of their own thesis project and may direct a new play by a peer playwright in the Carlotta Festival. In addition, directors may be assigned to serve as assistant directors on Yale Repertory Theatre or School productions.

Directing students and faculty are engaged, in classes and productions, in an ongoing effort to critically examine—and to re-imagine—the role of the director in the contemporary theater and wider culture. We are striving to foster, within ourselves as individual artists and as a community of collaborative artists, a practice of directing firmly rooted in anti-racist and anti-oppressive principles.

All directing and assistant directing assignments are made by the chair of the Directing program (pending approval by the dean). Additional or alternative projects may be assigned to directors in all years of training, including new works, assistantships, and, on occasion, casting in School and Yale Rep productions.

Yale Cabaret

Directors are strongly encouraged to direct productions for Yale Cabaret and to participate in the work of the Cabaret in other capacities. Students considering work at the Cabaret must seek prior approval by the program chair, with the understanding that assigned academic and production work will be prioritized.

Plan of Study: Directing

Class of 2026, required sequence, year one (2023–2024), year two (2024–2025), year three (2025–2026), class of 2025, year two (2023–2024), year three (2024–2025), class of 2024, year four (2023–2024), additional requirements for the degree, anti-racist theater practice requirement.

Directing students are required to enroll in DRAM 450a/b, Theater as Cultural Work: Leading with Values, in order to fulfill the School’s anti-racist theater practice requirement. Combined with the prerequisite workshop, Everyday Justice: Anti-Racism as Daily Practice, this course offers vital strategies for the lifelong development of individual and communal anti-racist practice.

Theater History Requirement

Directing students are required to successfully complete two term-length courses in theater history in order to fulfill the School’s theater history requirement. This may be accomplished either by enrolling in DRAM 6a/b, Survey of Theater and Drama, or, with prior approval of the Program chair, by enrolling in two other theater history courses offered at the School or elsewhere within the University.

Elective Requirement

Directors are encouraged to take elective courses as their schedules permit. Courses may be selected from other programs within the School, and elsewhere within the University, subject to approval by the chair of Directing.

Courses of Instruction

DRAM 37a, The Production Process Required of second-year directors. See description under Playwriting.

DRAM 50a, The Theatrical Event Almost all performances are composed of three main elements: artist, audience, and event. What is a theatrical event? What are the artistic aims of a particular theatrical event and how may an artistic choice affect its reception by an audience? How does one meet a theatrical event on its own terms? In this three-week laboratory introduction, students function as both artists and audience, creating short pieces in response to prompts from photography, painting, music, and other media, and then discussing them. The goal of this course is to teach students how to read a theatrical event as both creators and audience. Required of actors, directors, dramaturgs, and playwrights during their first term in residence. Liz Diamond, Catherine Sheehy

DRAM 51b, New Play Lab See description under Playwriting.

DRAM 53a, Authentic Collaboration See description under Acting.

DRAM 103a, Acting I See description under Acting.

DRAM 110a, Foundations of the Art and Craft of Directing The course is designed to develop directorial skills in rigorous close reading of the text, associative imagining, and detailed production scoring. Through a series of analytical and creative encounters with a play, research, individual and group assignments, and scene work, directors develop methodologies for reading for events and action, thematic focus, production and performance style, and personalized theatricality. The course also explores the role of the director as a leader of the acting ensemble and the director’s practical work with actors on activating the play’s central dramatic conflict. Plays in the modern realist tradition serve as texts for these investigations. Yura Kordonsky

DRAM 112b, Introduction to Set Design See description under Design

DRAM 113a, Voice I See description under Acting.

DRAM 120a, Directing IIa: Directorial Approaches to the Plays of Shakespeare This course continues the development of the director’s analytical, interpretive, and imaginative abilities through an examination of the specific artistic and technical demands of poetic drama, focusing on the plays of Shakespeare. Emphasis is placed on the role of verse in determining action and shaping character and on the art of developing and articulating a directorial vision that will give new life to these texts. Throughout the term, seminar discussion centers around scene study, production research, project presentations, and on-the-feet investigations of the relation of script requirements to acting processes. Within this course, there is also a practicum of eight sessions with actors (who are enrolled under DRAM 190a, Shakespeare Practicum) during which directors and actors work together in on-the-feet explorations of Shakespeare’s plays. Karin Coonrod

DRAM 120b, Directing IIb: Directorial Approaches to World Performance This course continues the exploration of directorial approaches to an expansive variety of dramatic and theatrical forms by inviting students to explore a range of world performance traditions. Guided by the instructor, students explore oral traditions, texts, ideas, and an array of performance forms. Through the course each artist develops ideas for imaginative adaptations and productions that reflect an understanding of, and respect for, the cultural context from which the source material springs. Awoye Timpo

DRAM 124b, Introduction to Lighting Design See description under Design.

DRAM 130a/b, Directing III: Directorial Approaches to New Dramatic Forms A practical course on directorial approaches to modern and contemporary experimental drama. Emphasis is placed on the further development of interpretive skill through close reading and research, and stylistic orchestration of one’s reading of a play in production. Plays and landmark productions from the twentieth century and contemporary avant-garde are the course texts. Students’ production strategies for these works, as well as for their current School productions, are presented and discussed in weekly sessions. In the spring term, the course also examines the work of influential directors of the modern and contemporary period. Liz Diamond

DRAM 140a/b, The Director’s Thesis The primary project of the final year in directing is the thesis, a full production of a major work of classical or contemporary dramatic literature, or a new or original work, proposed by the student director and approved by the dean in consultation with the program chair. The written component of the thesis is a production casebook documenting the student’s preparation, rehearsal, and postproduction evaluation of the thesis production. The class meets weekly through the closing of the final thesis production of the year to provide counsel and practical support to students at each phase of the production process: design, budgeting, rehearsal, technical rehearsal, and performance. The course also provides individual and group advisement on the drafting of the production casebook. Susanna Gellert

DRAM 180a, Rehearsal Practicum: Meeting the Play This course focuses on the director-actor collaboration in the early stages of rehearsal. In this lab, first-year actors and directors learn “by doing” how to rigorously analyze the text of the play in order to discover its dramatic structure, given circumstances, and characters’ objectives, and to activate the central dramatic conflict of a scene or a play. The course teaches communication tools and rehearsal strategies that serve to engage the shared creative energies of all collaborators as they work to articulate, through bold and specific choices, the story unfolding on the page. Taught in conjunction with DRAM 563a. Yura Kordonsky

DRAM 190a, Shakespeare Practicum This practicum focuses on the director-actor collaboration in rehearsals, specifically on the plays of Shakespeare. In this lab, second-year actors and directors learn “by doing” how to mine the form and content of a Shakespearean text. Students work together to unpack given circumstances, character objectives, and the central dramatic conflicts of scenes and plays, exploring these in on-the-feet work while negotiating the space, with the goal of strengthening their ability to make and receive offers and to test and develop production ideas within the rehearsal process. Taught in conjunction with DRAM 120a. Karin Coonrod

DRAM 191b, Managing the Production Process See description under Theater Management.

DRAM 220b, Shakespeare Rep Project Proposal Tutorial Throughout their professional lives, directors conceive of theatrical projects and use their writerly skill to persuade producers and collaborators to join them in bringing these to life. In this course, students learn to develop their personal criteria for selecting a particular play (in this case a play by Shakespeare) and, in concise, lucid, and artistically compelling prose, to make a case for its production. Over this 9-week course, students curate a list of plays, read and discuss them with one another, research production histories, develop early ideas for a production, and write and revise two production proposals. In drafting their proposals, students are challenged to discover and succinctly describe each play’s events, dramatic action, and contemporary significance. The work culminates with the submission of two SRP proposals by each student director to Directing program faculty, the chair, and the dean. Faculty

DRAM 283a, Shakespeare Embodied See description under Acting.

DRAM 290a/b, Geffen School Show Proposal Tutorial The Geffen School Show, produced in the director’s final year, and the director’s accompanying production casebook, together comprise the Master’s Thesis in Directing. This tutorial course is designed to provide individual and group coaching to directing students in their penultimate year as they generate a list of potential thesis projects; workshop potential projects; and write and revise two compelling production proposals. In the drafting and presentation of these proposals, students are challenged to explicate why these projects are meaningful in this present cultural moment for the director, for fellow Drama students in training, and for the public. The course consists of group and individual meetings and involves substantial independent work on the part of the student director, beginning in the summer before the penultimate year. The course culminates in the spring with the presentation by the student director of two proposals to Directing program faculty, the program chair, and the dean. Susanna Gellert

DRAM 330a/b, Directing Practicum As the core course of the Directing program, the Directing Practicum is designed to develop the student director’s artistic and practical ability to assume the complex of responsibilities required of the professional director. Work in the Directing Practicum includes, but is not limited to, scene study, exercises in composition, adaptations, open rehearsals, practical study of prominent directors, explorations of non-text-based performance forms, and the creation of devised work. Liz Diamond, Yura Kordonsky, Dmitry Krymov, and guests

DRAM 350b, The Choreographic Imagination This course develops the theater maker’s ability to mobilize the expressive power of the entire human body onstage. Students learn choreographic practices in order to expand the possibilities for what can be imagined, composed, and communicated in theater. We explore means of generating movement, activating space, manipulating timing and dynamic, effectively composing individual and group activity, and juxtaposing movement and language. Practical investigations in class develop physical instincts and movement literacy. No prior experience with dance required—merely openness to learning in motion. Open to non-Directing and non-Drama students with permission of the instructor. Emily Coates

DRAM 360a/b, Bridge to the Profession This course, meeting for ten sessions in academic year 2023–2024, prepares directors for entry into a rapidly changing professional arena. Students identify the personal and artistic values and aspirations upon which to develop short- and long-term professional goals. Visits with artistic leaders, agents, union and foundation heads, and others are arranged in relation to the student’s goals. The building of a project to take into the field comprises the major portion of the course work, with readings and short exercises assigned throughout the course. Lileana Blain-Cruz

DRAM 380b, Introduction to Shakespeare for the Director This course begins the directing student’s yearlong exploration of Shakespeare’s work by introducing key tools of Shakespearean text analysis, including paraphrasing, scansion, and argument. Students learn to mine the text for given circumstances, character, objectives, and action, noting the opportunities and limitations of the printed play script. They also develop vocabularies in actors’ and directors’ processes of engagement with verse drama, to promote directorial confidence in collaborative interpretation. Assigned reading, written exercises, committed table reading and direction, and seminar discussion introduce students to a range of possibilities for discovering specific, playable dramatic action. James Bundy

DRAM 390b, Opera Practicum An introductory course in opera direction, offered in collaboration with singers from the Yale School of Music’s M.F.A. program in opera. This laboratory course focuses on the director/singer dialogue, while exploring opera’s defining characteristic as an integration of the arts. Examining the structure and style of a specific opera, the course explores approaches to creating work fulfilling the primary demands of the music at once faithful to the spirit of the work and vitally alive for a contemporary audience. Weekly sessions feature practical scene work, research assignments, and open rehearsals. The core text is the repertoire chosen by Yale Opera for its annual projects. Guest artists from the field are invited to provide insights and to respond to the work in class. Dustin Wills

DRAM 403a/b, Acting Intimacy and Combat for the Stage See description under Acting.

[ DRAM 440b, The World of the Play An eight-week course in text analysis for nonmajors. Using a small selection of formally challenging texts by modern and contemporary experimental playwrights, the course provides students with an approach to reading plays that considers a play’s textual geography in its totality—its physical appearance on the page and its use of image, syntax, sound, and silence—to apprehend its nature as dramatic action, as theater. Offered to students in Projection Design and open to other students by permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2023–2024]

DRAM 450a/b, Theater as Cultural Work: Leading with Values Meeting bi-weekly throughout the academic year, the course engages students and faculty in articulating, embodying, and promoting anti-racist and anti-oppressive values in all aspects of directorial practice and theater-making. Through role play, examination of case studies and theory, and sharing of lived experiences, students and faculty learn to apply cultural work principles for a just world to their work as theater makers. The goal of this work is to interrogate and end practices that cause harm within our processes; to build and strengthen practices for accountability amongst collaborators; and to invest in the future by imagining, creating, and implementing systems of care and leadership that do not perpetuate or promote white supremacy culture. Nissy Aya

DRAM 563a, Activated Analysis II See description under Acting.

MFA Program in Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Program offers the MFA degree, with a concentration in either poetry or fiction. MFA students pursue intensive study with distinguished faculty committed to creative and intellectual achievement.

Each year the department enrolls only eight MFA students, four in each concentration. Our small size allows us to offer a generous financial support package that fully funds every student. We also offer a large and diverse graduate faculty with competence in a wide range of literary, theoretical and cultural fields. Every student chooses a special committee of two faculty members who work closely alongside the student to design a course of study within the broad framework established by the department.

Students participate in a graduate writing workshop each semester and take six additional one-semester courses for credit, at least four of them in English or American literature, comparative literature, literature in the modern or Classical languages or cultural studies (two per semester during the first year and one per semester during the second year). First-year students receive practical training as editorial assistants for  Epoch, a periodical of prose and poetry published by the creative writing program. Second-year students participate as teaching assistants for the university-wide first-year writing program. The most significant requirement of the MFA degree is the completion of a book-length manuscript: a collection of poems or short stories, or a novel, to be closely edited and refined with the assistance of the student’s special committee.

MFA program specifics can be viewed here: MFA Timeline Procedural Guide

Special Committee

Every graduate student selects a special committee of faculty advisors who works intensively with the student in selecting courses and preparing and revising the thesis. The committee is comprised of two Cornell creative writing faculty members: a chair and one minor member. An additional member may be added to represent an interdisciplinary field. The university system of special committees allows students to design their own courses of study within a broad framework established by the department, and it encourages a close working relationship between professors and students, promoting freedom and flexibility in the pursuit of the graduate degree. The special committee for each student guides and supervises all academic work and assesses progress in a series of meetings with the students.

At Cornell, teaching is considered an integral part of training for a career in writing. The field requires a carefully supervised teaching experience of at least one year for every MFA candidate as part of the program requirements. The Department of English, in conjunction with the First-Year Writing Program, offers excellent training for beginning teachers and varied and interesting teaching in this university-wide program. These are not conventional freshman composition courses, but full-fledged academic seminars, often designed by graduate students themselves. The courses are writing-intensive and may fall under such general rubrics as “Portraits of the Self,” “American Literature and Culture,” “Shakespeare” and “Cultural Studies,” among others. A graduate student may also serve as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate lecture course taught by a member of the Department of Literatures in English faculty.

All MFA degree candidates are guaranteed two years of funding (including a stipend , a full tuition fellowship and student health insurance).

• Graduate Assistantship with EPOCH . Students read submissions, plan special issues and assume other editorial and administrative responsibilities.
• Summer Teaching Assistantship, linked to a teachers' training program. Summer residency in Ithaca is required.
• Teaching Assistantship
• Summer Fellowship (made possible by the David L. Picket ’84 Fund and The James McConkey Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing Award for Summer Support, established by his enduringly grateful student, Len Edelstein ’59)

Optional MFA Lecturer Appointments Degree recipients who are actively seeking outside funding/employment are eligible to apply to teach for one or two years as a lecturer. These positions are made possible by an endowment established by the late Philip H. Freund ’29 and a bequest from the Truman Capote Literary Trust.

Admission & Application Procedures

The application for Fall 2024 admission will open on September 15, 2023 and will close on December 15, 2023 at 11:59pm EST. Please note that staff support is available M-F 9am-4pm.

Eligibility : Applicants must currently have, or expect to have, at least a BA or BS (or the equivalent) in any field before matriculation. International students, please verify degree equivalency here . Applicants are not required to take the GRE test or meet a specified GPA minimum.

To Apply:  All applications and supplemental materials must be submitted on-line through the Graduate School application system . While completing your application, you may save and edit your data. Once you click “submit,” your application will be closed for changes. Please proofread your materials carefully. Once you pay and click submit, you will not be able to make any changes or revisions.

DEADLINE: Dec. 15, 11:59 p.m. EST . This deadline is firm. No applications, additional materials or revisions will be accepted after the deadline.

MFA Program Application Requirements Checklist

• Academic Statement of Purpose Please use the Academic Statement of Purpose to describe, within 1000 words: (1) your academic interests, (2) your academic background, preparation, and training, including any relevant professional experiences, (3) your reasons for pursuing graduate studies in this specific program, and (4) your professional goals.
• Personal Statement Your Personal Statement should provide the admissions committee with a sense of you as a whole person, and you should use it to describe how your background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree. Additionally, it should provide insight into your potential to contribute to a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect where scholars representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn and work productively and positively together. Writing your Personal Statement provides you with an opportunity to share experiences that provide insights into how your personal, academic, and/or professional experiences demonstrate your ability to be both persistent and resilient, especially when navigating challenging circumstances. The statement also allows you to provide examples of how you engage with others and have facilitated and/or participated in productive collaborative endeavors. Additionally, it provides you with an opportunity to provide context around any perceived gaps or weaknesses in your academic record. Content in the Personal Statement should complement rather than duplicate the content contained within the Academic Statement of Purpose, which should focus explicitly on your academic interests, previous research experience, and intended area of research during your graduate studies. A complete writing prompt is available in the application portal.
• Three Letters of Recommendation Please select three people who best know you and your work. Submitting additional letters will not enhance your application. In the recommendation section of the application, you must include the email address of each recommender. After you save the information (and before you pay/submit), the application system will automatically generate a recommendation request email to your recommender with instructions for submitting the letter electronically. If your letters are stored with a credential service such as Interfolio, please use their “online application delivery” feature and input the email address assigned to your stored document, rather than that of your recommender’s. The electronic files will be attached to your application when they are received and will not require the letter of recommendation cover page. Please do not postpone submitting your application while waiting for us to receive all three of your letters. We will accept recommendation letters until December 30,11:59pm EST . For more information please visit the Graduate School's page on preparing letters of recommendations .
• Transcripts Scan transcripts from each institution you have attended, or are currently attending, and upload into the academic information section of the application. Be sure to remove your social security number from all documents prior to scanning. Please do not send paper copies of your transcripts. If you are subsequently admitted and accept, the graduate school will require an official paper transcript from your degree-awarding institution prior to matriculation.
• English Language Proficiency Requirement All applicants must provide proof of English language proficiency. For more information, please view the  Graduate School’s English Language Requirement .
• Fiction applicants:  Your sample must be between 6,000 and 10,000 words, typed, double-spaced, in a conventional 12- or 14-point font. It may be an excerpt from a larger work or a combination of several works.
• Poetry applicants:  Your sample must be 10 pages in length and include a combination of several poems, where possible.

General Information for All Applicants

Application Fee: Visit the  Graduate School for information regarding application fees , payment options, and fee waivers . Please do not send inquires regarding fee waivers.

Document Identification: Please do not put your social security number on any documents.

Status Inquiries:  Once you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email. You will also be able to check the completion status of your application in your account. If vital sections of your application are missing, we will notify you via email after the Dec. 15 deadline and allow you ample time to provide the missing materials. Please do not inquire about the status of your application.

Credential/Application Assessments:  The admission review committee members are unable to review application materials or applicant credentials prior to official application submission. Once the committee has reviewed the applications and made admissions decisions, they will not discuss the results or make any recommendations for improving the strength of an applicant’s credentials. Applicants looking for feedback are advised to consult with their undergraduate advisor or someone else who knows them and their work.

Review Process:  Application review begins after the submission deadline. Notification of admissions decisions will be made by email or by telephone by the end of February.

Connecting with Faculty and/or Students: Unfortunately, due to the volume of inquiries we receive, faculty and current students are not available to correspond with potential applicants prior to an offer of admission. Applicants who are offered admission will have the opportunity to meet faculty and students to have their questions answered prior to accepting. Staff and faculty are also not able to pre-assess potential applicant’s work outside of the formal application process. Please email [email protected] instead, if you have questions.

Visiting: The department does not offer pre-admission visits or interviews. Admitted applicants will be invited to visit the department, attend graduate seminars and meet with faculty and students before making the decision to enroll.

Transfer Credits: Transfer credits are not available toward the MFA program.

Admissions FAQ

For Further Information

Contact [email protected]

MFA in Creative Writing Graduation Readings

• Skip to Main
• Welcome Message
• Literary Journals
• Join Our Listserv
• Administration and Staff
• FAQ for Prospective Graduate Students
• Fellowships and Literary Outreach
• Teaching Opportunities
• NYU GSAS Online Application
• Graduate Student Handbook
• External Literary Opportunities
• Low-Residency MFA in Paris
• Undergraduate Creative Writing Abroad
• FAQ for Undergraduate Students
• Academic Credit for Internships
• Awards & Special Events
• Fall 2023 Undergraduate Workshops
• Winter 2024
• Fall 2024 Undergraduate Workshops
• MFA Community News
• Alumni Books
• Recent Faculty Books
• NYU CWP Faculty & Alumni Events AWP 2024
• Writers in Florence
• Writers in New York
• Writers in Paris
• Summer 2024 Workshops on Campus
• Classic Podcasts & Videos
• Recent Podcasts & Videos
• Spring 2017
• Spring 2018
• Spring 2019
• Spring 2020
• Virtual Events 2020
• Spring 2021 Virtual Events
• Spring 2022
• Yusef Komunyakaa: A Celebration
• Spring 2023
• Spring 2024

Graduate Program

The MFA Program in Creative Writing consists of a vibrant community of writers working together in a setting that is both challenging and supportive. This stimulating environment fosters the development of talented writers of poetry , fiction , and creative nonfiction . The program is not defined by courses alone, but by a life built around writing.

Our renowned faculty are Catherine Barnett , Jeffrey Eugenides ,  Nathan Englander , Jonathan Safran Foer , Terrance Hayes , Katie Kitamura , Hari Kunzru, Deborah Landau , Joyce Carol Oates , Sharon Olds , Claudia Rankine , Matthew Rohrer , Darin Strauss , and Ocean Vuong . Visiting faculty members in 2022-2023 will include Nuar Alsadir, Cris Beam , Marie-Helene Bertino , Alex Dimitrov , Uzodinma Iweala , Jonas Hassen Khemiri , David Lipsky , Sally Wen Mao , Leigh Newman , Julie Orringer , Rowan Ricardo Phillips , Parul Sehgal ,  Saïd Sayrafiezadeh , Brandon Taylor , Hannah Tinti , Phillip B. Williams , and Monica Youn.

Through innovative literary outreach programs, a distinguished public reading series, an exciting public student reading series, special literary seminars with visiting writers, and the production of a high-quality literary journal, students participate in a dynamic literary community actively engaged in all aspects of the literary arts—writing, reading, teaching, publishing and community outreach. Students also have the opportunity to enjoy America's most literary terrain; New York University is situated in the heart of Greenwich Village, a part of the city that has always been home to writers.

Over recent years, program alumni have received many of the nation's most distinguished literary honors, including the Pulitzer Prize , the National Book Award , the National Book Critics Circle Award , the Guggenheim Fellowship , The MacArthur Fellowship ,  The National Endowment of the Arts Literary Fellowship ,  The Wallace Stegner Award , The Whiting Award , the Yale Series of Younger Poets , and the National Poetry Series , among many others. NYU CWP alumni include  Aria Aber, Amir Ahmadi Arian, Julie Buntin, Nick Flynn, Nell Freudenberger, Aracelis Girmay, Isabella Hammad, Ishion Hutchinson, Mitchell S. Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, Raven Leilani, Dana Levin, Robin Coste Lewis, Ada Limón, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Maaza Mengiste, John Murillo, Gregory Pardlo, Morgan Parker, Nicole Sealey, Solmaz Sharif, Peng Shepherd, Ocean Vuong, Jenny Xie,  and  Javier Zamora . 

The annual application deadline is December 18. We do not require GRE test scores. For further information about how to apply, please visit the GSAS Application Resource Center's useful online publication, " Application Requirements and Deadlines for Departments and Programs ." Specific departmental requirements can be found  here . You may also contact the Creative Writing Program at (212) 998-8816 or  [email protected]

  Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

Share this page

Useful links.

• GSAS Application Resource Center
• Academic Calendar
• NYU Office of Financial Aid

Visit U of I

Learn about the many reasons the University of Idaho could be a perfect fit for you. Schedule Your Visit

• Discover a Career
• Find a Major
• Experience U of I Life

More Resources

• Admitted Students
• International Students

Take Action

• Find Financial Aid
• View Deadlines
• Find Your Rep

Helping to ensure U of I is a safe and engaging place for students to learn and be successful. Read about Title IX

Get Involved

• Clubs & Volunteer Opportunities

Campus Recreation

• Student Government
• Sustainability Center
• Academic Assistance
• Safety & Security
• Career Services
• Health & Wellness Services
• Register for Classes
• Dates & Deadlines
• Financial Aid
• U of I Library

Homecoming Oct. 14 - 21

Join other Vandal families for a week of celebration and Vandal traditions. View Calendar

Stay Connected

• Upcoming Events
• Here We Have Idaho Magazine
• Support Services
• About Moscow
• Commencement
• Dads' Weekend
• Moms' Weekend

• U of I Retirees Association

UIRA has a membership of nearly 500 from every part of the University. Learn about UIRA

• Submit Class Notes
• Make a Gift
• View Events
• Vandal Pride Products
• Vandal Voyagers Program
• Alumni Chapters
• University Magazine
• Alumni Newsletter

Gym memberships and wellness class passes are available for faculty, staff and their spouses. Get Healthy

Common Tools

• Administrative Procedures Manual (APM)
• Class Schedule
• ITS Tech Support
• Academic Dates & Deadlines
• Daily Register
• Faculty Senate
• Staff Council

Application Management

Office of admissions.

Physical Address: University of Idaho Bruce M. Pitman Center 709 Deakin Street Rm 117  Moscow, ID 83844

Mailing Address: University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive MS 4264 Moscow, ID 83844-4264

Phone: 208-885-6326

Fax: 208-885-9119

Email: [email protected]

Web: Office of Admissions

Physical Address: University of Idaho Boise 322 E. Front St Boise, ID 83702

Email: [email protected]

Web: Boise Center

Coeur d'Alene

Physical Address: University of Idaho Coeur d'Alene 1031 N Academic Way Suite 242 Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814

Web: Coeur d'Alene Center

Idaho Falls

Physical Address: University of Idaho Idaho Fall 1776 Science Center Dr. Suite 306 Idaho Falls, ID 83840

Web: Idaho Falls Center

School of the Arts

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share through Email
• Creative Writing
• Creative Writing MFA Program
• Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing

Graduate College Awards honor excellence in the Creative Writing MFA Program

The Graduate College Awards, held this year on April 25, 2024, honored three individuals within the Creative Writing MFA Program for exceptional work and mentorship. Professor Mitch Wieland, Director of the Creative Writing MFA Program, received the Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award. Ayotola Tehingbola, who graduated this year with an MFA in fiction, received the Presidential Scholar Award in Performance and Visual Arts. Caleb Merritt, a current MFA student in poetry, received the Audience Choice Award for the Three-Minute Thesis Competition. In a lovely turn of coincidence, Tehingbola nominated Professor Wieland for the mentorship award. “ I have felt supported by Mitch in these past three years,” Tehingbola said. “Mitch is a patient teacher and he front-loads the foundations. He also makes the business of writing a priority. From applying to grad school to preparing me for my job interview, Mitch was a solid.” For Professor Wieland, who helped found the MFA program at Boise State, mentorship undergirds his teaching philosophy. “ As a graduate student, I had the good fortune to study with George Garrett, a legendary writer and teacher famous for his mentorship,” Professor Wieland said. “My approach to mentorship is to be like George and pass it on. I’m very thankful Boise State recognizes all the mentorship our tireless graduate faculty does week in and week out.”

Graduate College Awards

Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award: Professor Mitch Wieland, Director of the Creative Writing MFA Program. 

Presidential Scholar Award in Performance and Visual Arts: Ayotola Tehingbola, MFA alum

Three-Minute Thesis Competition Audience Choice Award: Caleb Merritt, MFA student 

You can learn more about the Creative Writing MFA Program here.

CREEES Professional Resources Forum

Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at The University of Texas at Austin

Grad Program: MA in Creative Writing in Russian (Moscow)

Application opens February 2019

For fiction/non-fiction writers in Russian.

MA “Creative Writing”  is:

• Practical and theoretical/historical courses, such as  Creative Writing Workshop ,  Storytelling in Different Media ,  Literary Editing , Poetics of Novel and Screenwriting ;
• Unique professors and teachers, among them famous Russian writers, screenwriters and critics –  Marina Stepnova ,  Lyudmila Ulitskaya ,  Lev Danilkin ,  Sergey Gandlevsky  and  Maya Kucherskaya  as well as prominent philologists, authors of academic and non-fiction books  Oleg Lekmanov ,  Ekaterina Lyamina  and  Alexey Vdovin ;
• Participation in open readings, discussions and  literary expeditions ,  publications in students’ projects ;
• International exchange  – lectures and workshops of the leading specialists in Creative Writing, students’ exchange in the best world universities;
•  Help and support in the process of  employment  in various publishing houses, editorials, Mass Media, high schools and universities and PR;
• Creation and participation in  cultural projects ;
• Flexible timetable  enabling students to work while studying.

Our graduates already work in the best publishing houses, universities and schools in Moscow. Their writing is published in the authoritative literary magazines. Their projects (such as prize  “_Litblog”  for the best literary blogger and first Creative Writing Internet resource in Russian  “Mnogobukv” and collections of prose) have gained much attention.

Language of instruction: Russian

You can apply to non-paid place as a foreign student in February. Looking forward to seeing you at Higher School of Economics!

More information about the programme:  https://www.hse.ru/en/ma/litmaster

Social Widgets powered by AB-WebLog.com .